I wrote a blog a while back that said if everything we knew about nutrition and exercise was wrong, how would you eat and train.
Science is always evolving and changing. Baseball players and basketball players in the 50s, 60s, and 70s and even into the 80s did not do much weightlifting. There was a belief that it would hurt their ability to shoot the basketball or swing a bat. Now all of these athletes spend hours in the weight room and steroids in baseball has become a real problem.
The same holds true for eating. As little as 20 years ago fat was the enemy and carbs were your friend. Meat was causing heart disease. We now have people promoting a carnivore diet and carbs are the enemy in some circles.
So with all this changing science what should you do?
I like to say that like the basic laws of physics, there are basic rules of nutrition and exercise.
Jacques basic laws of Nutrition:
1. Eat real food! I call this the no label diet. An apple does not have a label. Neither does a steak or chicken. In other words eliminate the processing. The closer you can get to the source the better. Farmers markets are great for this.
2. Organic protein sources when possible.
3. A rainbow of colorful veggies. The colors will help with balancing out minerals in your diet.
4. Fruits seasonally. I know we get fruit all year long, but try to eat it when it is in season. It changes up your diet and may help with nutrient balance.
5. Natural fats. Stay away from trans fats, seed oils, soy oils etc. The fat in eggs, meat, full fat yogurt, avocados, nuts are natural. These are the fats you want the most in your diet.
6. Nutrient dense carbohydrates. From fruit, potatoes, starchy veggies.
7. Eat when you are hungry and don't eat if you are not hungry.
Jacques basic rules of exercise:
Overload/Adaptation. This is how our bodies work. It will never change. The body has to have a stress over the norm and then have rest time and good nutrition to allow for the body to adapt to the stress. If the stress is only a one time stress the body will try to make adaptation, but if repeated and changed the body will continue to adapt.
There are two primary ways of increasing stress:
1. Volume of exercise. If you normally run a mile in 8 mins and then one day your run two miles at an 8 min pace you have increased the volume of exercise 100 percent.
2. Intensity of exercise: If you normally run a mile in 8 mins and one day you run the mile in 6:45. This is an overload in intensity because you are running the same volume at a much faster pace.
The overload can be applied in a number of different fashions based on all of the different types of exercise that our bodies can execute. With an athlete the program design will support the sport.
What I have said above will not change. What will change in nutrition will be that we will find certain nutrients in differing amounts will impact the speed of adaptation and improve longevity and health.
Also, the methods of implementing overloads will change as we learn more about how our bodies respond to the different methods. These laws will not change. Eat and train accordingly!
Truth in Fitness
-Jacques